opune

Forms

opune (present opun, third-person singular opune, past participle opus, subjunctive să opună); third conjugation.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin oppōnō (“to place against, oppose”), a learned loan adapted to the conjugation of the native verb meaning “to put”.^[3][1][4] MDA2, MDN and NODEX also give a French model: borrowed from French opposer.^[5][6][7] The Latin verb is formed ob- (“against”) and pōnō (“to put”), the source of pune (“to put”).^[1][8] The French verb is the same Latin verb, reshaped after poser.^[9]

DER lists the French loans that make up its family: opozant from French opposant, opoziție from opposition and opoziționist from oppositionniste.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin gives the first record as 1781, in Micu's lexicon, with the sense “to set against”.^[4] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has it under the Latinist head opponere, glossed “to put against, to put opposite”, and reflexive “to be against, to resist”.^[10] MDA2 cites Bălcescu's history of Michael the Brave in the edition of 1878.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The transitive verb means to set something against a person or thing as resistance;^[11] Russo wrote that the great Transylvanians „opun străinismului, ivit sub forma grecească, scrierile lor” “set their writings against the foreignness that had appeared in Greek form”.^[11] The reflexive a se opune “to resist, to stand against” is used with the dative.^[2][1] The verb also means to set two things side by side to bring out the contrast, and in geometry an angle se opune to another when it lies opposite it.^[2][12] In the 19th century it was also written oppune.^[13]

Timeline

• 1781 – first record, in Micu's lexicon.^[4]
• 1848 – opponere in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1862 – Pontbriant gives the transitive and reflexive verb, from Latin.^[14]
• 1878 – in the edition of Bălcescu's history, the first record MDA2 gives.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To set a thing, an argument or an action against someone or something as resistance: Le-a opus un argument simplu.^[2][5]
2. (reflexive, with the dative) To oppose, to resist, to stand in the way of; to set oneself against: Primarul s-a opus proiectului.^[2][1]
3. (transitive) To set two or more beings or things face to face, to show the contrast between them.^[2][5]
4. (reflexive, of angles) To lie opposite another angle in a figure.^[2]

Word family

• opozant
• opoziție
• opoziționist

Related words

• pune
• opus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 747
3. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. opune
4. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. opune
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 218
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. opune
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. opune
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. opune
11. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. opune
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 446
13. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 213
14. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 513